Republican Davis appears to win hard-fought state House race

By Mike Tolson and Kiah Collier

Updated 12:36 am, Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Sarah Davis, Republican candidate running for re-election in the Texas House, stands with Hunter Hughes, as she campaigns near her home precinct at the Colonial Park Recreation Center on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012, in West University Place. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )
Photo: Brett Coomer, Houston Chronicle

Sarah Davis, Republican candidate running for re-election in the...

State House District 134 Rep. Sarah Davis thanks her supporters Tuesday night during her watch party at The Meridian in Houston. The incumbent got attention for breaking ranks with the GOP in her first term.

The race featured two attorneys, both cancer survivors, vying for a seat that cuts across southwest Houston and Bellaire. The largely upscale district, which encompasses the Texas Medical Center and Rice University, became more favorable to Republicans last year after the Legislature approved redrawn boundaries. But many believed the seat was in play in part because voters there showed weak support for Gov. Rick Perry in 2010.

It didn't turn out that way. Davis, 36, credited the district's conservative values, especially with respect to fiscal policy.

"And that's the platform I ran on," said Davis, who narrowly ousted Democratic incumbent Ellen Cohen in the tea party-driven Republican sweep of 2010. It was her first run for any office.

In the other somewhat competitive local House races, favored Democrat Mary Ann Perez was trailing Republican David Pineda in District 144, which includes Pasadena and many of the region's petrochemical workers. If subsequent returns erase the narrow deficit, Perez, chair of the Houston Community College board of trustees, will take the seat of the late Ken Legler, a Republican who died not long after announcing he would not seek re-election.

Incumbent Hubert Vo was poised to claim another term in his District 149 seat in west Houston with a relatively easy win over Dianne Williams, a retired teacher. Likewise, Democrat Gene Wu was well ahead in the race to succeed the retiring Scott Hochberg in District 137. Wu, a former Harris County assistant district attorney, was comfortably ahead of M.J. Khan, a former Houston city council member.

With only one session under her belt, Davis has received attention for her party-breaking opposition to proposed rules that would prohibit doctors in the Texas Women's Health Program from discussing abortion with their patients. She also broke ranks to vote against legislation that requires a woman to have a sonogram before receiving an abortion, but then voted to cut funding for state-subsidized contraception and cancer screenings.

Republicans held a record 101 state House seats for the 2011 legislative session after benefiting from a huge GOP landslide in the 2010 election. No political experts expected them to hang on to their super majority, especially after redistricting resulted in boundary changes benefiting Democrats, but the chamber will remain solidly Republican.

The outcome of the legislative races cannot be categorized "as anything other than a status quo election," said Democratic consultant Harold Cook. Late summer polls indicated Democrats might pick up 10 state House seats, but a fall Mitt Romney surge benefited other Republicans running in Texas, Cook said, and zapped Democratic hopes of biting further into the Republican advantage.